I had tea with Dame Barbara Cartland once, the astonishing writer of 723 bodice ripping romances, campaigner for midwives and nurses, health and vitamin guru (from memory she took about 60 a day) – and supporter of gypsy families.

I had forgotten about her gypsy connection until reading her website today which tells us that in the early 1960s, Dame Barbara campaigned for the rights of gypsies to have a permanent place to live which resulted in an act of Parliament. One of the first gypsy camps was opened by her in 1964 and was called Barbaraville in her honour; there are now 14 sites in Hertfordshire.  I wonder if her sense of admirable social justice would extend to the illegal travellers’ site at Dale Farm. When they are eventually evicted, as I suspect they will, where will they go? Where can they go?

My reminiscences about Dame Barbara occurred because I have just found a long-lost signed copy of one of her most special books which she gave me during that tea in her home, Camfield Place, near Hatfield. In my pre-PR days, I was a journalist with the Cambridge News, I used to write a weekly health and beauty page, hence my request to interview  Dame Barbara, who died aged 99 in 2000, to pass on her tips. She was just as you see her in the magazines, all pink and fluffy with very heavy make-up, and she provided me with generous hospitality. I remember sitting in her turquoise room as she took a call from an American journalist, and watched amused as she spoilt her beloved Pekinese with home made cakes under the dining table.

The book she gave me, Love at the Helm, was “inspired and helped by Admiral of the Fleet, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma“, her long-time friend who provided her with naval and historical background information. She also gave me a “lucky oak leaf” from an oak tree which was planted in her grounds by Queen Elizabeth 1 on the spot where she shot her first stag with a crossbow. The book with the leaf inside were retrieved from my attic  by my husband who was having a clear out as we married shortly after my interview with Dame Barbara and that’s where most of my possessions ended up.

This is the note that accompanies the oak leaf which has been painted gold and framed in pink card, and I plan to place by my desk so it can weave its special magic:

“The oak tree was planted by Elizabeth 1 on the spot where she shot her first stag with a crossbow when she was a prisoner at Hatfield House.

“It has always been known locally as having magic powers and I have the acorns and leaves picked by w woman who is a white witch. She was given her witch’s powers when she was a little girl in Toronto.

“Anything she does for anyone she loves always has the most extraordinary results and I get letters from people who say that everything has gone right after they have received one of my keepsakes.

“Helen Hayes, the greatest actress in America, swears that she only got the largest Oscar that was given to any actress entirely through having one of the acorns.

“Last year I gave an acorn to a couple I knew in Scotland who had been married for 15 years without having a child. After a very short time they produced the most beautiful baby who is now the ”Champion Baby of Scotland.'”

Beat that tale if you can!

Does anyone know what has happened to her daughter, Raine Spencer?